​Engineering Services

Consulting and Customised Offer

As a leading supplier of drive components for shipbuilding and generator construction, VULKAN Couplings supplies highly flexible couplings and resilient engine mounts worldwide. With over 125 years of experience in the field of drive technology, we set the trends when it comes to developing coupling technology and constantly offer customised solutions for a wide range of marine drive concepts. Supplying products and components is just part of the services required to implement an efficient, low-cost drive system.

​Thanks to our know-how, arising from many different fields of application, we offer made-to-measure solutions for customer-specific applications. Our engineers will offer you their advice from the start, during the design phase, as well as on site, and will assist you during the construction phase. In addition to technical consulting and highly professional engineering, we provide services that include torsional vibration analysis for torsional couplings, whirling analysis for composite shafts, 6DoF, 12DoF and shock calculations for resilient mounts, as well as extensive product testing at our own test center and trial site.

Torsional Vibration Calculation (TVC) The starting point of every coupling design process at VULKAN Couplings is a comprehensive analysis of the torsional vibration characteristic of the drive train - in ships from the engine to the propeller.

The specialists in the TVC (Torsional Vibration Calculation) department calculate steady and transient operating states, taking into account the particular properties of the elastomers used with regard to stiffness and damping. The couplings meet all requirements with regard to fine tuning the torsional vibration characteristics of the drive train and dynamic safety. Our analytical expertise of the TVC department is based on a unique combination of profound theoretical understanding in the field of vibration dynamics and long-standing practical experience, we gained

from numerous field measurements taken from generator plants or on board ships. The experienced VULKAN Couplings engineers are equipped with sufficient measuring technology to ensure that all relevant variables can be measured. By using lasers axial and radial displacement are measured. The range of measurements also includes torque measurement with strain gauge applications on drive shafts and high-resolution measurements of torsional vibrations using inductive sensors on the coupling.

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Predictive analysis of VULKAN shafting systems VULKAN provides the following types of analyses for VULKAN Composite shaft lines in case of order.

Static analysis of the shaft line (alignment calculation): The analysis is done with a 3D model of the shaft line for the load cases torque, ship hull deflections, shock loads etc. Based on the calculation results the static and fatigue strength is checked according to recognized standards and rules of the Classification Societies.

Linear vibrations modal analysis of the shaft line: For the modal (whirling) analysis the entire drive train and the engine is modeled including the stiffness of the engine mounts. Depending on the required extent of detailed information also single components like membrane couplings are included in the modal analysis in order to find local natural frequencies.

The assessment of the natural frequencies is done by means of a Campbell diagram thereby determining resonance points of the structure with provided excitation frequencies.

Harmonic forced lateral vibration analysis: Response amplitudes of the shaft line and engine will be calculated by forced harmonic vibration analysis for the 3D model. In special cases (e.g. shock spectra) a response spectrum analysis can be performed. Furthermore rotor dynamic analyses are made upon request.

The calculations are performed by means of the actual version of ANSYS (Mechanical APDL and Workbench) and analytical programs. The 3D models are prepared with Pro Engineer and ANSYS DesignModeler

6DOF The 6DoF (6 Degrees of Freedom) analysis is used to calculate the appropriate rubber compound for elastic mounts.

A special case is when the engine is resiliently mounted and, with a rigidly-mounted gear, mounted resiliently again on a common base frame. In this case the overall system is analysed with a 12DoF calculation. An example is the calculation of shock loads to bearings, such as in the event of high accelerations caused by explosions. The shock is greatly reduced by compressing the elastic suspension to a fraction of its original size.

The degree of freedom is the number of independent movement possibilities of a system.

​A rigid body in space has the degree of freedom f=6, because you can move the body in three independent directions and rotate it on three independent levels. The six degrees of freedom are therefore translations along the x, y, and z axes, as well as rotation around the same axes (pitch, roll, yaw). Each degree of freedom has an own frequency that can be influenced by the hardness of the elastomers. By selecting the appropriate degree of stiffness and taking into account swell, engine torque and component weight, natural frequencies of the system are calculated and shifted through excitation frequencies of the engine. This process ensures that the natural frequencies of the engine differ from the excitation frequencies, thus protecting the system from damage and guaranteeing a long service life.

If required by customers or classification societies – or for troubleshooting – vibration measurements can be carried out anywhere in the world on installed drive units and under real operating conditions.

These measurements include torque measurement, torsional vibration measurement, linear vibration measurement (e.g. to DIN ISO 10816-6) and structure-borne noise. The use of multi-channel telemetry also allows measurements in rotating systems.

Measurement hardware and software from leading manufacturers are used; the torsional vibration measurement is based on a specialised measuring system developed by VULKAN. In addition to active supervised measurements, long-term monitoring is also possible.

SERVICES

​Measuring equipment and analysis software for other requirements (e.g. measurements of temperature or movement) are also available.

Vibration measurements and analyses as well as load testing of customer products can be carried out upon request, on our or our customer's premises.An extensive range of test stations and sensor systems, as well as the corresponding analysis software, is available for this purpose.
Our measurement engineers will be happy to help you find an individually adapted measurement solution.

Test Center

The test facility of the VULKAN Couplings Test Center with its 12 employees is located at the headquarters of the VULKAN Group in Herne (Germany).

Its proximity to production halls located on the premises, as well as to Development, Engineering and Sales ensures smooth material flow as well as fast communication.

All products manufactured by the VULKAN Group can be tested here, such as highly flexible couplings,

To do this, 19 test rigs have been developed under VULKAN's supervision which are being constantly expanded and upgraded with the latest measurement technology. Some of the test rigs are globally unique such as a test rig completed in 2014 for the torsional load of composite shafts up to a length of 18 m.

The specimens can be subjected to static and/or dynamic loads in the torque range from 10 Nm to 5,000,000 Nm.

Shock loads and rotation tests are also possible, and fatigue life tests, as well as overload and destructive tests are carried out regularly.

The properties of even the largest couplings in the product range can therefore be determined under full load. The measurements are used to test new products or are part of quality assurance in series production. Special measurements on request (e.g. determination of acoustical properties) or to meet requirements of classification societies are also conducted.